Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-10-29
POPOCATAPBTI.
TO THE CRATER AND AROUND
THE SUMMIT.
Scaling the Ice Cones to an Altitude
5000 Feet Above the Summit
OF Mount Blanc.

mountain valley, 1880 feet above the sea.
Its volcanic soil supports only scanty
growth of coarse grass and few gnarled
pine trees, whose every twig is beautiied
bv lichens-" Gods autograph" accord
ing to the poet of the Sierras. There is
nothing whatever upon this skyward
ranch, or indeed anywhere upon the
mountain, but the sulphur works, which
consists of huge building covering the
furnaces, with roof open at both ends, the
mule sheds and smithy cabin. flights
pile themselves, peak above peak, around
it on all sides except towards the north,
where it slopes away to the valley of
Puebla, thirty miles distant. The In
dians bring the crude sulphur from the
crater, packed in bags upon their backs,
down to Tlamacas to be "sublimed."
which is done in earthen Jars.
NJ. Charney, the archeologist, who Wis
tied this place some years ago, wandered
off a mile or two toward the west,
and discovered a lot of unaccountable
pottery; but instead Of being, as he sup
posed, the relic Of an extinct and I'M
known people, it was doubtless placed
there by the no less superStitious Indians
of modern times, who, when having bust
ness on the mountain, consider it necessary
TO appease the evil spirit of nights by
offerings Of food.
Having written permission from the
owner of the mountains, General Sanchez
Ochoa, to spend the nights at the halfway
house, insures one the best the place af-
fords But that is not saying much. The
smithy will obligingly vacate his cabin
but that is only rude shelter of pine
boards, with plentiful interstices,
and without whole pane of glass.
You should not expect, however,
to ''be carried to the skies on flowing beds
of ease" but must make the best of cir
cumstances. You can cook the supper YOU
have brought over the furnace fires, and
there being but one bed within a radius
of fifteen miles, and that cot-the cabin
is always left to the ladies, if there be any
of the party, while the gentlemen betake
themselves to the neighborhood of the fur
mace.
When We went up, my companion Mrs.
Emily PIERCE and myself were the first
women who had been seen at Tlamacas for
many years, consequently we came in for
every attention it was in the power of the
inhabitants to bestow. The kind-hearted
smithy, whom we had literally turned out
of doors, reappeared at an embarrassing
juncture nobody ever knocks in Mexico),
with benevolence radiating from every
line of his honest face and big brass mat
in either hand. The latter, he explained,
were hot; and were used to pack sulphur
in, and placed beneath our blankets would
keep us warm as toast" | have reposed
on softer beds than these brazen mattresses;
but, though suggestive Of that holy martyr
roasting on his gridiron, we were grateful
for them, for the cold is intense at such an
altitude By their aid, though the fumes
of the sulphur were sitting, and the In
dians, who are obliged to stir it all night
long, cough in the most distressing way,
We slept the sleep Of the just.
Next morning one must be astir by half
past O'clock, because if bound for the
summit ones life depends on being back
here before nightlall. Before leaving the
cabin we abandoned all superhuities, band
aged our feet and ankles well with strips
of flannel, and strapped on our spiked san
dals over three pairs of wooden hose. Con-
ytemplating those aesthetic pedal decora-
tions, we compared ourselves to Roman
peasants on the Campagna-but am con-
iident that any peasant on earth would
have despised them. Goggles, wells, nit
tens and havelock added the finishing
touches to our toilet, and under the cold
glimmer of the crescent moon we set forth
on our upward toiling, to the weird music
of the wind whistling mournfully through
the messy pines and the distant bowling
of the coyotes, whose fresh tracks were visi-
BILE on every side.
We had been warned to make horses
carry us to the snow-line, as all our
strength would be required from that point
TO the summit but rs we went up and up.
over cinders and broken scoriic, the ami
mails suffered so much from difficulty of
respiration that they trembled and stag
gered at every step. Long before the
snow-ields were reached their agony was
pitiablc, and it seemed as if blood would
burst from their distended nostris; so, at
the ridge called Las Cruces, we abandoned
them to the poems, and made the rest of
the way on foot. These rocks, which were
evidently formed by fire at some remote
period, crop out of the black sand in most
fantastic shapes, and straggle downward
toward the valley. Into the topmost ledge,
over $4,000 feet above the sea, huge
cross is wedged, marking the death of a
man who fell into the crater.
In this part of the ascent the lines of
composition are magnificent and the con-
trasts startling. Across the vast, black I'M
dulations, on which our exaggerated shad-
ows fell with marvellous distinctness,
appeared and disappeared in turn the
rich. red, castellated Pico del Fraile, and
the dazzling white expanse of our ultima
thule. Backward from Las Cruces lay a
dizzy view of the world below. Wrapped
in our blankets we sat long at the foot of
that lonely cross, contemplating the glori-
Gus scene and preparing for the supreme
effort before us. From this point we look
down upon the limitless snow fields of X
taccihuatl spread out at our feet Far he
low runs the trail by which Cortez and his
soldiers approached the valley of Mexico.
From the western slope of this mountain
the conquerors caught their first glimpse
of the wonderful valley with its pictur-
esque assemblage OF waters, woodland and
cultivated plains, its shining cities and
shadow hills"
The same scene of beauty that delighted
those covetous eyes nearly four centuries
ago was unfolded ut our feet. The glim-
mering towers of the Capitol fifty miles
away-once the proud city OF the Aztec
kings-could he distinctly seen. Lakes
and spires in the valley of the Puebla and
the City of the Angels" were plainly
visible, with varied fues of hill and dale
between. Beyond towers the extinct vol
cano Malineke "-Malintzin-so named
by the Indians in honor of Cortez while
far away in the East, like diadem in the
sky, shines the white peak of Orizeba, dis
tant $50 miles. Against the mysterious
vastness, which none can comprehend who
have not stood so far above the clouds,
stood the figures OF our little party on the
ledge of rock-insignifcant atoms in
trackless space.
Between Las Cruces and the snow fields
lie about two hundred yards of almost per-
pendlcular ascent, through fine, sharp
scori,e more than ankle deep, fecked
here and there by drifts of melting
snow: One of the leading difficulties
OF the climb arises from the ex-
ceeding thinness of the air, recalling
Mr.. de Nye's stale joke that his "breatb
came IN short pants, though not related to
the knickerboeker family" Tourists are
not tied together by ropes here. as in
switzerland, but are hauled I'D. drarged nm